Stockton Institute for Lifelong Learning

SCOSA's Stockton Institute for Lifelong Learning (SILL) brings the best of Stockton's faculty to the community via short-courses (generally four 1-hour sessions) related to their teaching, scholarship, service, and interests. Space is limited, tuition is reasonable (free to Atlantic County residents who are 60 and older), and we hope to continually expand this programming that let you learn from and interact with Stockton’s accomplished faculty. For further information please contact Gina.Maguire@stockton.edu or Assistant Director Christine.Ferri@stockton.edu  or call 609-652-4311 and leave a message.

Current SILL Programs:

During the spring semester, we have planned an expanded list of offerings on Zoom and at our Galloway, Hammonton, and Atlantic City campuses. Each course meets once a week for 4 weeks. Tuition for each 4-session SILL course is $45 (unless otherwise notified). Courses are FREE for residents 60 years old or older who live in Atlantic County. 
 

March, April & May 2024 SILL Courses:  

Click Here to View Stockton's February/March SILL Press Release

March:

SILL: Contemporary American Short Story   Register HERE
Fridays        3/8, 15, 22, & 29/2024                  2-3pm
Stockton University Room F-226,  Professor Kristin Jacobson                
Explore the diverse world of contemporary American short fiction by reading and discussing two short stories per week. PDFs of the stories will be provided to participants. Authors will include Lauren Groff, Ling Ma, Etaf Rum, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Morgan Talty, Ben Marcus, and Colson Whitehead. 

Kristin Jacobson is a professor of American literature, American studies, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is the author of two literary criticism books.

SILL: Mediums & Mediumship: An Interdisciplinary Perspective   Register HERE
Fridays        3/1, 8, (skip 15), 22, & 29/2024                                        3:30-4:30pm
Stockton University Room F-121,  Professor Jennifer Lyke
This course covers mediums, people who purportedly receive messages from spirits, and the practice of mediumship from historical, sociocultural, scientific, and psychological perspectives. We will consider examples in popular culture, such as the Long Island Medium, and evaluate evidence for and against the hypothesis that mediums communicate with disembodied spirits. 

Jennifer Lyke, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who has taught at Stockton for over twenty years. Her research interests focus on altered states of consciousness.

SILL: Women in the Holocaust: Rescuers and Resisters    Register HERE
Tuesdays     3/5, 12, 19, & 26/2024                                         12-1pm
Stockton at Hammonton  30 Front Street,  Adjunct Professor Patty Chappine
This course will analyze the experiences of women as rescuers and members of resistance movements during the Holocaust. We will discuss the roles of women as partisans, couriers, rescue workers, and more. We will also learn about individual women like Marion Pritchard, Irena Sendler, and others who were instrumental in rescue efforts. 

Patty Chappine, P.h.D. is an adjunct professor at Stockton University and teaches in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Historical Studies. Her book, New Jersey Women during World War II : On the Home Front and Abroad is out now.

SILL: Quilts: Storytellers of the United States   Register HERE
Tuesdays     3/19, 26 & 4/2, & 9/2024                     1:30-2:30pm
Online via Zoom,  Professor Cynthia Arrieu-King
Through the practices of material culture, we will learn how to "read" the testimony of quilts from the United States. Four major periods will be discussed: civil war era, Gee's Bend and depression era, AIDS quilts, and the quilts of the disappeared. The effects of quilts and the cotton industry and machine quilting on daily life will also be examined.

Cynthia Arrieu-King is a professor of creative writing in the Literature Program at Stockton University. She runs the international visiting writers series in the fall semester and her radio show The Last Word airs on 91.7 WLFR Lake Fred Radio.

April:

SILL: Sylvia Plath & Intimate Partner Violence     Register HERE       
Wednesdays  4/3, 10, 17, & 24/2024                      10-11am Stockton at Atlantic City, Scarpa -210 & On Zoom,  Professor Emily Van Duyne

This course explores the historical claims that Plath's husband, the late poet Ted Hughes, was abusive during their marriage, and the literary public's tendency to dismiss those claims. Using contemporary feminist theory, we will attempt to understand-- why don't we take Sylvia Plath at her word? 

Emily Van Duyne is an Associate Professor of Writing at Stockton University. Her book Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation debuts on July 9, 2024, with W.W. Norton & Co. 

Fridays  4/5, 12, 19, & 26/2024             2-3pm Stockton University Room F-226,  Professor Emma Witt 

Come explore the variety of water features we have on Stockton's Galloway campus. This class will visit a different place every week, including Lake Fred, the Cedar Swamp, the big vernal pond, and Lake Pam. Ability to walk moderate distances on uneven ground required. 

Emma Witt, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences whose research focuses on Pinelands water quantity and quality. 

 

SILL: Chemistry Through Art      Register HERE 
Fridays  4/5, 12, 19, & 26/2024  3-4:30pm Stockton University Unified Science Center Room 154,  Professor Sarah Gray 

This course will explore the chemical principles behind the creation and analysis of art. Students will work in a laboratory to produce several artwork pieces and investigate four main topics: properties of light, paints and pigments, dyes and fibers, and modern materials. 

Sarah Gray, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Stockton. When not researching chemical oceanography, her hobbies include painting and fiber arts.

Tuesdays  4/9, 16, 23, 30/2024    1:30-2:30pm Online via Zoom,  Professor Christine Ferri 

The Conversation Project helps people share their wishes about care through the end of life. This course will review the starter kit and their guide to choosing and to being a health care proxy. Discussions will focus on how to best share what matters most to you with your loved ones. 

Christine Ferri, Ph.D, is Assistant Director of SCOSA and an Associate Professor of Psychology at Stockton. She's a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in aging and mental health. 

May:   

SILL: Health, Healing, & Spirituality        Register HERE                    Wednesdays   5/15 & 6/5/2024  In Person  AND  5/22 & 29 Online via Zoom 10-11 amProfessor Guia Calicdan-Apostle

Spirituality has a profound and compelling role in healing the mind and body. Those experiencing life’s challenges develop attributes that increase acceptance, reduce negative emotions, form meaningful relationships, and find life’s purpose. This session will explore ways to assess challenges of self in hopes of reconstructing a better understanding of health and healing as they intersect with spirituality. Some techniques will be introduced to benefit or enhance health (e.g. meditation, reflective journaling). 

Guia Calicdan-Apostle is an associate professor of Social Work. She teaches primarily in the Master of Social Work program at Stockton University.  She completed her doctorate in Social Work (Clinical Social Work) at the School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Calicdan-Apostle is currently a coordinator of the Victimology and Victim Services minor.                 

Save the Date for additional May 2024 courses; more information is forthcoming. 

May: 

Lisa Cox               Finding Happiness the Blue Zone Way                                                    Zoom 

Jacques Press     Critical Thinking Across Life                                                                     Zoom 

 

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Stockton is an Equal Opportunity Institution